PAWS runs on the support of our wonderful volunteers, and this month we’re happy to feature Erika Marshall as our Volunteer of the Month! Erika has been volunteering in the cattery since the beginning of August. She started volunteering due to a love of animals, and continues volunteering as she finds it to be a relaxing escape. She grew up with five dogs and two cats, and currently has two dogs and one cat.
Erika helps P.A.W.S. in multiple roles, most notably being the cattery and adoption events. She volunteers to clean the cattery and socialize the cats, and she helps match people with animals at our adoption events. She mostly visits the cats and helps them become friendly and happy cats, and typically visits the cattery once a day. She’s most passionate about her work with the cats, mostly because she says it’s not like a typical shelter. Each cat is given lots of room to move around and stay in during the day and night when the cleaners aren’t there, as opposed to the cages most people think of.
Erika’s current favorite P.A.W.S. animal is Indy, an older male cat that came to us after his owner passed away. (To learn more about Indy, check out his foster feature here: https://www.pawshancock.org/post/foster-feature-indy.) One of her favorite things that she experienced with Indy was watching him come in depressed and picking her to trust and be friendly with. Her work with him is likely what led him to be his new friendly self! She loves him so much that the biggest challenge she’s faced has been not taking him home. And with his adoption fee being sponsored, that makes it even harder.
When asked how volunteering has affected her life, Erika said that she feels more hopeful. Watching animals come in and get second chances in new homes has been the biggest factor in her feeling more hopeful than she did before. She has learned that it takes a lot longer to get an animal ready for adoption than most people would think. Not every animal is ready to go into a home as soon as they come to us. Some are too young, some require medical care, and some are too scared. When they are ready for adoption, there are meet and greets to schedule and oversee, and not all of them are successful.
Erika has this advice for people interested in volunteering. First and foremost, she says to do it in your free time. Whether you have two hours of free time a week or twenty, you can use that time to really make a difference in your community and animals’ lives. If you want to help in the cattery, come in being willing to learn how to clean it properly. The cats rely on us to keep it clean and sanitary, and we don’t want to let them down. If you want to help with adoption events, knowing how to pique peoples’ interest is an amazing trait to have. Knowing about animal personalities and behavior, how to tell if they're sick, and animal knowledge in general will be immensely helpful.
It’s easy to stay motivated on tough days for Erika. Whether it’s raining or she’s had a bad day, she goes to the cattery to play with the cats and relax. “They’re always happy to see you,” Erika told us. It sounds like it really makes it worth going when the cats are always happy to see you and play, cuddle, or just hang out!
When asked about her goals for the rescue or any dreams she has for it, Erika said she’d love to see our spay and neuter program get more days. We’re limited to once a month at the moment, so we can only send a few animals every month. Expanding the days we can send animals would help not just the rescue, but the community as well! She wants to see more people spay and neuter their animals so we can help keep animals off the street. She’d also love to see more animals get adopted.
Erika has these final thoughts to share with us.
Spay and neuter your animals if you can. If not, seek out a low cost clinic like PAWS to go through.
Foster if you can so P.A.W.S. can help even more animals.
Come to the cattery during open hours to meet all of the cute and cuddly kitties P.A.W.S. has available. A trained volunteer will be there to answer any questions you have. The address is 1224 W. Main Street Greenfield, IN 46140, and you can go during the first and second Saturday in a month from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm and the second and fourth Sundays from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
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